1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electrically operated exterior storage-type mirrors that are installed on a vehicle door which are automatically stored along the door surface and are remotely controlled from the driver's seat.
2. Prior Art
In the prior art there exist electrically operated exterior storage-type vehicle mirrors. An example of such is shown in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 61-12452 and includes a base for mounting on the door of a vehicle to which is provided a shaft. The mirror body is rotatably mounted on the shaft so as to be freely rotatable in both directions around the vertical shaft on the base. In addition, the body is pushed towards the upper surface of the base by a spring, and clutches are provided between the upper surface of a clutch gear and a lower surface of a fixed clutch plate and also between a lower surface of the frame and an upper surface of the base. These two clutches comprise upper and lower clutches and the upper clutch is structured such that it engages more tightly than the lower clutch so that the lower clutch will disengage quicker than the upper clutch at the time the mirror body is turned. Furthermore, the clutches are each comprised of a multiple number of balls and concave parts into which the balls fit smoothly.
While the above described structure which is of an electromotive type is functional, it contains certain problems. In particular, since the above described structure is provided with a clutch placed at the upper end parts of the shaft and another clutch placed at the lower end parts of the shaft, the size of the structure which provides the two clutches is large and comples requiring many moving parts.